Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro / Set the Stage:

This is perhaps the grandest and loftiest language of all Pauline prayers, and what he asks for here is nothing short of a miracle.

To be filled with all the fullness of God.

The language Paul uses here may catch us off guard.

Have any of us ever experienced God in such a way?

What is Paul talking about?

What kind of experience is he referring to?

‌Illustration:

Imagine with me that you go out for lunch after church and you run into a friend who attends another church.

You ask them how their service was, and their reply takes you aback - "It was wonderful.

The Spirit empowered us.

Christ dwelt in our hearts.

And we were all filled with all the fulness of God."

What comes to mind when you hear this?

Bridge the Gap:

If you’re like me, you picture charismatic chaos — tongues being spoken and lengthy prophecies being proclaimed.

We may picture emotional music and healings and maybe even the raising of the dead.

And perhaps by the time the pastor comes to the pulpit to preach, he simply says, "I guess there isn't time for my sermon this week."

If you are anything like me, you’d be concerned about your friend and might wonder if you should help him find another church.

If you’re anything like me, the last thing you’d think he meant is what Paul has in mind when he uses those exact words in our text.

Explanation:

What is Paul praying for in these verses?

In verse 19, he prays that we would “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.”

Paul is praying that the Ephesian believers would understand deeply the love that Jesus has for them.

Why does he pray for this?

Because while Paul was a great theologian, he was also a good pastor, and he knew that is easy for us to know the truths of the gospel without feeling and experiencing the truths of the gospel, for the wonderful realities of the gospel in Ephesians 1-3 to go into our heads without ever making their way into our hearts.

That is why, after Paul spends three chapters diving deeply into the theology of the gospel, he ends with a prayer for meaningful experiences of truly knowing and feeling Christ's love for us.

Why is that?

Because the gospel reaches its full intended effect in our lives, not when we have mastered it, but when it has mastered us, when it has so overcome us that we not only know the wonderful truths of the gospel, but are fully convinced of the truths of the gospel.

Example 1:

Because It is possible to know that we are adopted by God, but still not feel fully loved and accepted as his children.

Example 2:

And It is possible to know that God has given us the righteousness of Christ, but still feel the need to earn his favor.

Example 3:

And, in our text this morning, it’s possible to know that Jesus loves us without feeling that Jesus loves us – to say with our mouths that Jesus loves while still harboring doubts in our hearts.

What about when we sin?

Does he grow tired of us?

What about when we suffer?

Is he judging us?

What about when we feel alone and like everyone has abandoned us?

Has our Lord left us too?

And what about those dark moments when we’ve questioned Jesus or even thought unkind things of Jesus in our hearts — does he think unkind things back?

Prop Package:

In our text this morning, Paul prays that the theological truths of the gospel become our experiential realities.

And more specifically, Paul prays that we would feel perfectly and wholly secure in the love of Jesus because God’s great desire is that we not only would know that Jesus loves us but that we would feel that Jesus loves us.

Sermon Outline:

As we consider Paul’s prayer together this morning, first, we’ll consider the wonderful reality of Jesus’ love.

Second, we’ll see that God desires that we would feel the wonderful reality of Jesus’ love.

And then we’ll end the sermon by looking at practical ways we can pursue experiences of feeling Jesus’ love.

MP1: The Wonderful Reality of Jesus’ Love

Transition:

While Paul does pray for deep experiences of feeling that Jesus loves us in this text, we must be careful to first consider the objective reality of Jesus' love.

Because whether we feel it or not, Jesus loves every member of his church fully and completely.

Explanation:

In verse 17, Paul uses two word-pictures to describe us as secure in Jesus’ love.

First, he says we're "rooted" in Jesus' love.

The picture is of a plant, maybe a tree, whose roots sink into the soil.

The tree is strong; it's steady.

And because of the roots, that tree isn't shaken when the storms come and the winds blow.

Second, Paul says that we're grounded in Jesus' love.

The picture changes from a plant to a building whose foundation is the love of Jesus.

Like the roots of a tree, the foundation of a building keeps it standing when floods come, and the dirt beneath the building becomes unstable.

Application:

My dear friends, the point is this: we are secure in Jesus' love.

We're firmly held.

We won't be uprooted.

The building won't collapse.

We're not going anywhere because Jesus’ love is the surest reality in the universe.

When life's storms and difficulties seek to shake us, what keeps us standing?

Not our resolution to stand strong.

Not an uncertain hope for things to get better.

Not just pushing through.

What keeps us standing is the unshakable love of Jesus.

We can put all of our confidence in it.

Explanation:

And while these comforting truths are clear in the English, they are even more pronounced in the original.

We could translate it like this, you have been rooted in love, and you have been grounded in love.

Illustration:

Trees don’t plant themselves.

Buildings don’t pay their own foundation, and the same is true of us: we have been rooted in Jesus’ love by another.

Application:

We didn’t plant ourselves in the love of Christ.

We were taken, and we were planted by sovereign love.

Before we ever knew Jesus, he knew us.

Before we ever chose Jesus, he chose us.

Before we ever loved Jesus, he loved us.

And if Jesus loved us first, then we could not be more secure in his love, because none of it depends on us; it all rests on him.

He loves us not for who we once were or for things we once did.

He loves us, not for who we now are or ways we’re presently growing in holiness.

He loves us, not for who we will be or what we will do.

He loves us because he loves us.

Explanation/Application:

This means that Jesus isn’t disappointed in us, and there aren’t unmet expectations.

Jesus Christ - who is the same yesterday, today, and forever - loves us yesterday, today, and forever.

And we can be confident of this because he rooted us and grounded us — he made us secure in his love.

Explanation/Application:

And when did he do that?

When He left His throne in heaven, became man, and died in our place.

In the gospel, he rooted us and grounded us in His love, to never let us go.

Do you remember Paul’s words in Ephesians 5?